Jeremy Renner on Gaining New Skills for Film, On-Set Food and Making Mom Happy

Actor Jeremy Renner, who recently discussed his experience of working on The Avengers (i.e, he wasn’t too happy with the way they took his character), talked a bit more about his work in the global box office giant – but this time, it was all nice.

Known for his role as the superhero Hawkeye, who teams up with his talented peers Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), The Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), Captain America (Chris Evans), and the Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Renner shared his determination to do his alter ego justice on the big screen. Doing so, Renner had to take on archery training and learn how to fire fast. Luckily the technology of CGI made the 41 year old’s job a little less strenuous.

“I wanted to do my due diligence; to know enough about archery and to understand why things are – but we’re in a Marvel universe with Super Heroes and monsters. To be honest, I actually didn’t have to do very much archery training because I was using CGI arrows and I was shooting CGI monsters. Being a Super Hero and a super marksman, Hawkeye doesn’t look where he’s shooting, so I had to get rid of the actual archery skillset and just know that I’m pulling things and firing 1,000 times faster than any archer could ever fire.” Adding, “It’s like learning a new language or a dance. It’s not a form of communication by any means, but it’s certainly a fun skillset. I didn’t know that I could do any of this stuff and there were some things that I picked up more easily than others, but I worked hard and I had fun with it. It’s the best part of being an actor, working with people who are the best in the world at whatever it is you’re doing.”

When asked how it felt to work on a movie this size with an enormous budget, Jeremy called it “great. Firstly, there’s much better food on set and there’s a lot more money spent when you’re working on a big movie like this. It’s also nice to know that you have a support system of a studio behind you. You know they are going to market the movie and that people will actually see it. A lot of the time with independent films, people don’t see them or the content isn’t quite there, so it’s nice to be in a big movie. It’s fun. I love little movies, too, which is when you get the chance to get down and dirty and make it happen – but I suppose there’s a little bit more luxury to making big movies.”

Given Renner’s rise to fame with starring roles in The Hurt Locker and most recently The Bourne Legacy, the actor also took the time to talk about his success and his mom. “As long as I am happy, she’s happy. But she’s been happy for me for many years because I have been doing what I love to do. There’s just a little bit more icing on the cake to see success like this.”